Luo Xiaobu: Broadcasting and TV operators who block IPTV/OTT are hopeless

On March 3, Luo Xiaobu, deputy general manager of Gehua Cable, was a guest in the DVBCN interview room. During the interview, Mr. Luo said that the many barriers set by radio and television have not stopped IPTV/OTT from advancing. Let's take a look at Gehua Cable. IPTV and OTT do not have a good development space in Beijing, so we cannot rely on administrative means to set barriers, but we must use good services to retain users. Mr. Luo said that using administrative means to set barriers is the most hopeless behavior.

1. How can radio and television network/cable TV break through in 2015?

Suggestion 1: Radio and television networks must remember to serve the people

At the beginning of the interview, Mr. Luo made a very sincere suggestion to his colleagues in the radio and television industry. He believed that the most pressing issue that cable television needs to solve at present is the issue of party spirit. Don’t make things difficult for the people every day and let the party and the government become psychological obstacles. This will definitely lead to a dead end. Friends in the radio and television industry, please take care!

Cable operators must do two things: first, do not be anti-Party, truly understand the Party's purpose, and serve the people in a down-to-earth manner; second, adhere to the socialist path, do not rob people's pockets, and strive for public welfare for the people.

Suggestion 2: Control the service instead of blocking IPTV/OTT through administrative means

First of all, let's clarify the concept of three-network integration. The three networks are fixed network, mobile network and Internet. There is no such thing as radio and television network and telecommunications network. For any cable operator, the three-network integration business has two points. The first is how to do a good job in political and social business (TV business), and the second is how to provide good mobile phone services. For cable operators, it is how to move TV content to mobile phones, so that people can use home gateways to recharge their mobile phones at home and take TV to the subway to watch, instead of watching it online through 3G/4G.

Operators should not set any thresholds, let the people choose freely, and compete on service. Radio and television set so many thresholds, but no one can stop them, IPTV/OTT has entered the market. Let's take a look at Gehua Cable. IPTV and OTT do not have a good development space in Beijing, so we cannot rely on administrative means to set thresholds, but we must use good services to retain users. Mr. Luo said that using administrative means to set thresholds is the most hopeless behavior. Convenient, simple, practical, and cheap, meeting these four standards is a good terminal that meets the needs of the people.

OTT for cable TV refers to OTT Internet and OTT mobile network, which transmit cable TV content to mobile terminals through the Internet/mobile network.

Suggestion 3: Cloud platform must be built, and must be oriented to the entire network and all terminals

In 2014, cloud services began to be implemented in various industries at an accelerated pace. How should cable TV networks gradually develop their own "cloud" businesses?

Mr. Luo believes that it is very difficult for people to consume on TV nowadays, because TV consumption must be done at a certain time and place, and the easiest way is to use a mobile phone, so no matter what cloud platform is built now, it must be centered on the mobile phone. To build a cloud platform, three conditions must be met:

The first is for the entire network, including cable TV, the Internet, and mobile Internet;

The second is for all terminals, including PAD, mobile phone, and TV;

The third is to emphasize that your content can be consumed at any location and on any terminal. That is to say, under the cloud platform as the basis, the wired network is not simply a question of what business to do, but a question of transformation from a medium to a media.

Suggestion 4: Broadcasting and TV operators should abandon broadband

In 2014, many radio and television operators started to provide broadband services. However, Mr. Luo said in an interview that this was not a wise choice. Mr. Luo analyzed the situation from two dimensions. First, according to the first dimension of the Boston Theory, the entire broadband industry has a low growth rate. Secondly, according to the second dimension of the Boston Theory, radio and television also have a low market share in the entire broadband market. Businesses with low growth rates and low market share are called dog businesses in the Boston Theory, and such businesses should be discarded.

II. Gehua Cable in 2015 and Gehua Cable's 20-year journey of conscience

At the 2015 work conference of Gehua Cable, Chairman Guo Zhangpeng made an in-depth analysis of the company's current macro-environment, policy environment, industry environment, and the company's current development status. He required Gehua Cable to seize the rare strategic opportunity period and the golden period of leapfrog development, comprehensively deepen the "one network and two platforms" development strategy, accelerate the layout of the full media industry, and strive to explore and build a new type of media group. He also put forward seven requirements: First, we must be politically conscious and consider the overall situation; second, we must guard against arrogance and impetuosity; third, we must seize opportunities; fourth, we must persist in reform and innovation; fifth, we must increase external cooperation; sixth, we must persevere in providing good services; and seventh, we must continue to improve our work style in depth.

According to Mr. Luo, Gehua Cable has always taken serving the people as its main line of development over the years and has done 20 things that are worthy of the people of the capital:

First, the development of cable television allowed people to watch more and clearer analog TV;

Second: Gehua charges by household, not by terminal, and retains more than 30 sets of analog TV above the second terminal, protecting the people's TV investment, that is, so that the people's multiple TV sets are not wasted;

The third thing: Gehua bought out the pay TV and provided it to the people for free, enriching the people's radio and television cultural life;

Fourth: Free replay of over 100 TV programs, returning prime time to the people, who can watch their favorite programs during their own prime time;

Fifth: The General Administration promotes live broadcast satellites to give people new choices;

Sixth: The General Administration promotes HD, and all HD products of Gehua are free, including HD playback;

Seventh: Gehua helped the government distribute high-definition interactive set-top boxes for free;

Eighth: Although the price has increased a little, it supports high-quality 3/5/6/8 channels, and the people understand and are very happy;

Ninth: The General Administration will completely turn CCTV and local TV programs into public welfare programs and prepare to launch free terrestrial broadcasting;

Tenth: Gehua provides the "Beijing Digital School" with a full set of 11-year education for free, with VOD on demand, solving the problem of educational equity;

11. Opening TV cinemas, that is, cinemas with an average of three people in a family unit, so that people can watch new films and blockbusters;

12. We launched five free HD channels, especially the HD Korean drama channel, which was very popular among the people.

Thirteenth: Gehua took the lead in launching large card all-in-one machine;

14. Gehua took the lead in launching voice remote control, allowing people to watch whatever they want just by saying it;

Item 15: Gehua allows Beijing residents to watch the Spring Festival Gala and the World Cup without having to stay up late!

16th: Gehua's telemedicine experiment was praised by Vice Premier Ma Kai: "You have done a great thing!" 17th: Radio and Television ensures safe broadcasting at all costs!

18. Allowing the public to listen to radio for free through cable television;

Item 19: Gehua replays the "TV Series Zone" to allow you to watch TV series continuously;

Item 20: With the support of the Beijing Municipal Government, Gehua has not raised prices despite providing more than five times the number of applications and services as in the past!

3. Suggestions to State Grid

In the context of the integration of three networks, service level is gradually becoming the core competitiveness of enterprises. Especially with the advancement of technology and the development of the market, the products provided by various operators are becoming more homogeneous, and prices are becoming more unified and transparent. In this case, service is particularly important. How to improve customer satisfaction and enhance the core competitiveness of cable TV networks based on customer perception? If State Grid leads this, will it be more effective?

During the interview, Mr. Luo made 30 suggestions for the future development of State Grid:

The first suggestion is to realize 10G interconnection between the State Grid and local network companies, and build a TV transmission network, a city TV exchange network, an Internet cache and mirror hedging network, a national backbone network resource dispatching network, and a content exchange platform;

The second suggestion is to establish a national news debunking center and collect all news including those from districts and counties, with a daily debunking volume of more than 1,500 hours;

The third suggestion: On the basis of stripping, establish a cloud platform and distribution network for all media;

The fourth suggestion is to undertake national projects, such as telemedicine. The fifth suggestion is to establish a national cable laboratory. The sixth suggestion is to establish an international Internet television exchange bureau and apply for Internet export.

The seventh suggestion is to establish an all-media video surveillance center; the eighth suggestion is to build a national public service mobile network; the ninth suggestion is to organize and unify the standards and specifications for cross-provincial product and service exchanges as soon as possible;

The tenth suggestion: Build an operating mechanism and ecological environment where provinces complement each other’s strengths, share interests, and achieve win-win cooperation;

Eleventh suggestion: To connect with the Internet, establish a review center for introducing Internet content into television and an all-media adaptation center;

The twelfth suggestion: Establish a TV drama trading center and establish an anti-corruption mechanism for TV drama trading;

Thirteenth suggestion: Open several national network channels to solve the survival problem;

Fourteenth suggestion: Establish a national live broadcast network for public welfare performances;

The fifteenth suggestion: Establish an all-media distribution platform for electronic books;

The sixteenth suggestion: Establish a film all-media distribution network;

Suggestion 17: Establish a game trading and adaptation platform, as well as a game distribution network;

The 18th suggestion: Build a cultural and art trading platform and a cultural and art exhibition network; The 19th suggestion: Build a rural 4K movie screening network;

The 20th suggestion: Build a national grassroots public cultural center service network;

Suggestion 21: Cultural poverty alleviation projects, including the project of sending audio-visual libraries to rural areas;

Suggestion 22: Production and distribution of simulation museums and science and technology museums;

The 23rd suggestion: Cultural information service cloud project, mainly based on mobile terminals;

Recommendation 24: Quality Educational Television Project;

Recommendation 25: Utilize the public service mobile network to develop downloadable digital broadcasting projects;

Suggestion 26: Establish a national tourism and cultural resource exchange network and display it;

Suggestion 27: Support projects for ethnic minority culture and ethnic language channels;

Suggestion 28: Special publicity projects for party members, legal education, etc.;

Recommendation 29: Build an international cultural, educational and tourism trade and exchange platform;

The 30th suggestion: Construction of public cultural electronic media bases, such as rural e-book library bases and electronic reading or visual material production bases for the disabled.

Mr. Luo's suggestion is sincere. Can the State Grid keep up with the pace in 2015? On February 13, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued the "Notice on Accelerating the Pilot Work Plan for the Integration and Development of National Cable Television Networks" (New Radio, Film and Television [2015] No. 29). It seems that the State Grid has already put its arrow on the string and has to launch it...

In addition to the integration of cable TV networks, in 2015 State Grid Corporation needs to increase cooperation with local cable networks and do something substantive on smart terminals - establishing a smart terminal integration platform.

In addition, in 2015, State Grid Corporation will need to step up its efforts to apply for various telecommunications network and Internet business operating qualifications and related licenses, and step up its efforts to apply for national cable TV integrated broadcast and control platform and new media integrated broadcast and control platform operating qualifications.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.